MTUC to picket if wage demand not met

<P>MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed
Mohamud said the pickets would be called off if Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi responded.</P><P>&quot;We have identified the places where they would
be held,&quot; he said before handing over a seven-page memorandum on the matter
to the prime minister&#146;s senior private secretary, Ahmad Yaacob, at the Prime
Minister&#146;s Office yesterday.</P><P>About 1,000 MTUC members, including secretary-general
G. Rajasekaran, were present as a show of support.</P><P>Syed Shahir said the
pickets would be held simultaneously in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Bangi, Shah
Alam, Klang, Johor Baru, Kuching and Penang from 5pm to 6.30pm.</P><P>On whether
holding pickets would help their cause, he said the congress had to act as it
was a long-standing issue. An MTUC study showed about four million of the 10 million
private sector employees were earning below the poverty level.</P><P>&quot;They
remain poorly paid and denied the basic necessities of life. The majority of them
are unskilled workers while the wages of those represented by trade unions are
not that far better.</P><P>&quot;The minimum wage demand makes more sense now
after the government announced a pay hike for civil servants recently.&quot;</P><P>Basic
wages of plantation workers remained below RM400 per month while collective agreements
in the non-metallic mineral products industry provided wages between RM400 and
RM550.</P><P>&quot;Even in Johor Baru, where the cost of living is high, industrial
workers are paid as low as RM390. Five-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur are paying
a basic wage of RM290 per month to cleaners and waiters.&quot;</P><P>Syed Shahir
said there was no justification to delay the implementation of a minimum wage
as it would attract more locals and reduce the country&#146;s dependence on foreign
labour.</P><P>He said the absence of any provision on minimum wage in the Employment
Act had led to exploitation of workers.</P><P><I>Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/National/20070619084515/Article/index_html</I>